PRO FOOTBALL: GIANTS NOTEBOOK

PRO FOOTBALL: GIANTS NOTEBOOK; Short Week Becomes Shorter

By FRANK LITSKY

Published: December 16, 2000

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Dec. 15—
The Giants will face a short week next week, two times over.

On Sunday night, rather than the usual Sunday afternoon, the Giants (10-4) will play the Dallas Cowboys (5-9) in Irving, Tex. That gives them a late flight home. The following Saturday afternoon, not Sunday, the Giants will play the Jacksonville Jaguars here in their regular-season finale.

Coach Jim Fassel has come up with a way to handle the shorter and hurried practice week: he is giving the players Monday off in addition to Tuesday, which is their usual day off.

''We'll get home at 4:40 a.m. after the game,'' Fassel said today. ''The coaches can come in here with no sleep and work from 6 a.m. to midnight putting the game plan for Jacksonville together, but it wouldn't be productive. It wouldn't make sense physically or mentally.

''So we'll go home and go to bed, and Tuesday we'll put in the game plan. The players don't have to be here Tuesday, but usually they come in at any hour they like to lift weights and watch game tapes, and then they can go home and sleep. They'll get the game plan Wednesday, as usual.''

The net result is one day fewer of practice. The normal Friday practice and Saturday walk-through will be combined on Friday.

If the Giants beat the Cowboys, they will clinch the National Football Conference East. If they lose, they will try again next week. So for now, Fassel said, his coaches will get a good night's (or day's) sleep Monday and will be rested for the intense game-planning sessions. As he said, ''I want my coaches to think before they put a game plan together.''

Garnes's Friendly Advice

Troy Aikman, the Cowboys' quarterback, will sit out Sunday's game because he sustained the 10th concussion in his 12 pro seasons last weekend. Sam Garnes, the Giants' strong safety, said he sympathized.

''The first game this season,'' Garnes said, ''Jessie Armstead and I were both heading for a receiver when we blindsided each other. I was knocked out for 30 seconds with a concussion. I sat out a week, and it took a couple of weeks more before the headaches went away. It's definitely scary. You don't remember anything. And that was just from one concussion.''

What advice does he have for Aikman?

''I would tell him,'' Garnes said, '' 'You've had a great career. It's time to retire.' But when you love the game, it's hard to retire.''

After the season, Aikman and his agent, Leigh Steinberg, will confer about the quarterback's prospects next year.

''I suspect he won't play next week, either,'' Steinberg said from his California office, ''so this is probably it for the season. We're going to take a good hard look at the future.

''Going into the season, he said he felt like he had four or five years left, but in the first game he got a concussion and now he has another, plus disk problems in his lower back. He's a fighter. He still wants to play. He's also focused on the fact that he wants to have a healthy life after football.''

Department of Health

Darren Woodson, the Cowboys' strong safety and a five-time Pro Bowl player, has been placed on injured reserve with a fractured right forearm sustained four weeks ago. Greg Myers, a fifth-year pro, is his replacement.

''Darren is one of the best ever to play that position,'' said Ike Hilliard, the Giants' flanker. ''With him out, in the last couple of games they've been playing more zone than man coverage. They sit back and let you make mistakes.''

For the Giants, offensive guard Glenn Parker and wide receiver Joe Jurevicius are recovering from knee injuries and will miss the game. The backup running back Joe Montgomery's strained thigh is better, and he has been upgraded to probable.

Talk of the Locker Room

Cornerback Jason Sehorn on the Cowboys' new starting quarterback, Anthony Wright: ''A team with nothing to lose scares you. Their young quarterback has nothing to lose. The world is not resting on his shoulders. He just has an opportunity to show his stuff. He wants to make a name, and you don't want to be the one he makes a name against.''

Quarterback Kerry Collins on the Cowboys' defense: ''I watched them play the Redskins last week and their front four put all kinds of heat on Jeff George. They really played well and really played hard.''

Center Dusty Zeigler, a surprising alternate in the Pro Bowl voting: ''I'm fired up. Something like this has never happened before.''

Photo: Darren Woodson, the Cowboys' safety, won't play against the Giants because of a fractured right forearm. (Associated Press)